That was a freebie.

How could we do this without you, Carrie? (article)

Cubs starters have gone at least five innings in 57 starts this season heading into Saturday's game. They've gone fewer than five innings in 40 of those games.

1) Cubs starters have gone at least five innings in 57 of their 142 starts
2) Hm. Either a) they have gone fewer than five innings of 40 of the 57 games in which they went at least five innings, or b) they have gone fewer than five innings in 40 of the 85 starts in which they did not go at least five innings, leaving 45 starts in which the starter did not pitch fewer than, as many as, or more than five innings.

Update: Wade Miller went three innings today, which is fewer than five. Too bad I am too confused by Muskat's statistic to understand what this means: Wade Miller was not good today. Speaking of which:

Miller's debut spoiled by Braves' bats (article)

You'd get the impression from the title of this article that Miller had a good start while the Braves' offense simultaneously had a good day. Not that that would be possible. But Miller threw a lousy game. Here is his line:

Wade Miller, 9/9 - 3 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 5 BB, 3 K, 2 HR

Though to be fair, his K-to-HR ratio stayed above 1, which is something.

Miller couldn't keep the Atlanta Braves in check. Adam LaRoche and Brian McCann each hit two-run homers and Andruw Jones added a solo shot to lead the Braves to a 7-3 victory and spoil Miller's debut, handing the Cubs their 17th loss in the last 20 games. It's the 25th time the Braves have hit at least three homers in a game.

Again, using the verb "spoil" as if Miller earned something that was then unjustly taken from him. Yes, Carrie, he was injured. He also took over a year to return from surgery when he was supposed to be back in May. Perhaps you should have run one of these stories instead:

"Mediocrity Spoils Feel-Good Story"
"Injury Spoils Attempt to Come Back from Injury"
"Fifteen Hit, Ten Run Shellacking Spoils Pitcher's No-Hit Bid"
"A Week on Table Spoils Loaf of Bread's Quest for Immortality; Bread Unavailable for Comment"
"Blogger's Chance with Girl Spoiled by Lack of Real Chance."
"Spoiled Brat's Desire to Have Everything Spoils with Cubs' Playoff Chances"

I assume she means that this is the twenty-fifth time this year that the Braves have hit at least three home runs in a game.

Baker had only seen Miller do side sessions this year. The manager did remember Miller from his successful run in Houston, when he posted double-digit wins from 2001-03.

"He was nasty," Baker said. "He had dynamite stuff. He had a good breaking ball, and was a little on the mean side, which is always a plus for a pitcher. I remember sitting in the dugout with [bench coach] Dick Pole watching him pitch. Dick said then if he doesn't change his mechanics, he'll end up hurting his shoulder. Hopefully, that's been corrected."

Apparently, bench coach Dick and Dusty called it. Time to update that scoreboard!

Pandrew: 1
THS Blogger: 0
Dusty-Dick: 1

But what did Miller have to say to that?

"I've heard that before," Miller said about his mechanics. "When I hurt my shoulder, I felt myself do it on one pitch [two years ago]. It wasn't my mechanics. It was just a matter of where my arm slot was on that particular pitch. People talk about me trying to follow through better as far as bending over, but that's not the way I pitch. My arm's been feeling fine the way I'm pitching."

Ooo. Sounds like someone's wrong. Headline:

"Pitcher Claims that Dick Baker Did Not Call It"

Another Baker:

"Both of the two-run homers were proceeded by a walk."

I do not think that word means what you think it means.